


morning sunrise at midnight

by dytabytes



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Anxiety, F/F, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Marianne von Edmund Needs A Hug, Mostly Gen, Self-Esteem Issues, Sleepy Cuddles, and they were tentmates (oh my god they were tentmates)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:41:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24133006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dytabytes/pseuds/dytabytes
Summary: Marianne can't sleep. Hilda helps.
Relationships: Marianne von Edmund/Hilda Valentine Goneril
Comments: 2
Kudos: 67





	morning sunrise at midnight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Brat_cat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brat_cat/gifts).



> Brat_cat asked for soft handholding, and so I provide.

This isn’t the first time that the professor is taking them into battle. It’s not even the second. It’s not even the _tenth_. Marianne has been a student in the Golden Deer house for long enough that she doesn’t even remember how many times she’s been in combat. You’d think that would stop her from panicking every time they leave Garreg Mach.

It _should_ stop her from panicking. 

Any normal person wouldn’t be scared anymore.

But Marianne isn’t normal, and she isn’t brave, and she isn’t good. 

The whole house has made camp about a half day’s march from the Brionac Plateau. The woods they’re in are deep and dark. From a warrior’s perspective it makes for good cover, but from the perspective of Marianne, a girl who is all too aware of the weakness of her heart, she’d really rather be somewhere with fewer creeping shadows and more light.

The sun has long set, and the moon is somewhere above their heads, pale beams filtering dimly through the tree branches. Everyone else is asleep in their bedrolls. The only ones awake are the posted sentries from the battalions and Marianne, and the sentries may as well not be present. Marianne can hear the rustle of their footsteps now and then, but the students all sleep in the center of the party, so there’s a thick band of battalion member tents around the circumference of the Golden Deer camp proper.

She’s surrounded by people, but she’s all alone.

Marianne curls into an even tighter ball, shivering even though her blankets are warm enough to withstand the chill of the mountains in Edmund. 

_I want to go home_ , she thinks, for what must be the millionth time. 

Her eyelids start to droop, weighed down by the exhaustion of several days of marching and poor sleep, but then the voice in the back of her head whispers, “Do you remember that time that you weren’t close enough to cast Physic on Lysithea? What do you think will happen in battle tomorrow if you accidentally venture out of range again?”

The awful fear jolts Marianne awake, anxiety buzzing through her brain and thoroughly driving away the sleep that she was so desperately reaching for.

A sob tries to shake its way through her lungs, but she shuts it up behind pursed lips.

 _No! You aren’t going to cry!_

Marianna tightens her fists until she can feel her nails biting her palms, willing herself to stop weeping.

“Marianne?”

A warm hand lands on her leg, and Marianne nearly jumps out of her skin.

“H-Hilda!”

“You okay?” Hilda asks, rubbing at her eyes groggily with her other hand. 

_I must have disturbed her with my fretting._

Marianne feels even worse now. 

“I’m fine,” she mumbles, keeping her eyes glued to her lap to try to hide the tears that are still threatening to spill.

“Hmm.” Hilda struggles upright, peering at Marianne through her sleep-ruffled bangs. “You don’t sound okay. C’mere.”

She shuffles closer, but Marianne is too frozen with nerves to move. After a long moment, Hilda huffs and says, “Or I’ll come to you, I guess.”

Then she flops over onto Marianne, completely disregarding personal space. Marianne squeaks, rushing to catch her tentmate, easing her up against her shoulder to keep from falling to the ground.

“Hilda!”

“Shhh,” Hilda presses a finger to Marianne’s lips, still slurring slightly from drowsiness. “I’m cold.” She wrinkles her nose and whines. “I can’t sleep when I’m cold.”

“S-Sorry?” Marianne doesn’t know what to do. She starts to push Hilda back under her covers, but the other girl just pulls Marianne closer. 

“No, no. We’ll do it like this. Silly.” Hilda doesn’t like putting effort into doing things, but when she has a goal in mind, it’s impossible to stop her. It doesn’t take long for Marianne to find herself tugged into Hilda’s bedroll with both of their blankets piled on top of them.

“I… What’s this?” Marianne asks, helplessly. 

“This is comfier, isn’t it? You were freezing before.” Hilda sighs into Marianne’s neck, curling up closer so that her front is pressed more securely against Marianne’s back. It’s not _uncomfortable_ , but it’s also a lot.

“Are you sure you, um…” It takes a few moments for Marianne to realize that she doesn’t have any actual objections to her position, as much as she’s not why Hilda would want to do this. But then, she often doesn’t understand Hilda’s reasons for doing things. “Is this really alright?”

“Marianne, we both know that I don’t do things I don’t want to do unless a professor makes me.”

Hilda slides her arm around Marianne’s waist, searching until she finds Marianne’s hands. Marianne didn’t even realize that she was wringing them until Hilda works them loose from their knotted state. Slowly, her tense fingers relax in Hilda’s gentle hold.

“Just say ‘Thank you, Hilda’ and enjoy it. Cuddles make _everything_ better. I should know.”

The way she says it makes Marianne wonder if Hilda has bad dreams and fears about battle as well. But that’s impossible. Hilda is the bravest person Marianne knows. She doesn’t like fighting, but her classmate is frightfully talented at swinging an axe when the professor forces her into combat. What would she have to fear?

Well, it’s not like Marianne has the courage to ask, anyway.

Instead, Marianne bites her lip and squeezes Hilda’s hand.

“Thank you, Hilda.”

“You’re welcome,” her bedmate murmurs. “You’re so warm, Marianne.” 

_No, you are_ , Marianne thinks, but she’s falling asleep so quickly that she’s not sure if she manages to say it out loud.


End file.
